Broomfield seminar talks chickens

Holland Russo demonstrates the best way to hold a chicken at a community seminar in Broomfield on Wednesday night. At right is Clare Shier.
(Megan Quinn)

Broomfield chicken rules

Up to five chickens are allowed in single-family backyards.

Chickens must remain in the coop, and coops must be 10 feet from any property line.

Residents of HOA-controlled neighborhoods are not allowed to have chickens.

Chickens are not allowed in the front yard.

Outside slaughtering is prohibited.

No roosters are allowed.

Coops and enclosures more than 6 feet tall or coops greater than 32 square feet require a building permit through the Building Division of the Department of Community Development.

Residents must pay a $25 registration fee. Registration forms are available at the Community Development counter at the George Di Ciero City and County Building, 1 DesCombes Drive, or by visiting broomfield.org and searching "chickens."

BROOMFIELD -- With the soft sounds of clucking and cooing in the background, about 60 residents gathered Wednesday to learn more about raising their own chickens.

Residents who are interested in raising backyard chickens got a wealth of knowledge at a community seminar at the Broomfield Community Center, where they learned the ins and outs of building the best coop, keeping predators away, keeping hens healthy and helping chickens and household pets coexist peacefully.

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The Broomfield Police Department's Animal Services Unit and the Colorado State University Extension hosted the meeting.

City voters approved a measure in November allowing some residents to keep backyard chickens.

Guest speakers Sharon Bokan, CSU's small acreage coordinator, and Clare Shier, a 4-H leader and poultry supervisor for the Boulder County Fair and Rodeo, led the talk.

They said keeping chickens is a rewarding and interesting practice that can yield fresh eggs and animal companionship, but it comes with a lot of work and a bit of a reality check.

There's the possibility that a predator might tear into the coop and kill the chickens. A chicken might get sick. And chickens stop laying eggs regularly after about their third year, meaning families should either be prepared to keep the animals as pets or find a suitable home for them.

Chickens aren't like most pets, Shier said.

"You can name them, but they don't come when you call," Shier said. "They're even more remote than cats."

Holland Russo, a Broomfield 4H member, has kept chickens for about five years. She brought two of her chickens to the meeting to teach residents how to hold and handle the animals.

"These ones are really calm, kind of spoiled," she laughed as she handed a hen, a speckled Sussex, to a resident.

Heidi Lippert, who just got her city-approved permit and now owns five chickens, said her family loves having the animals as egg-laying pets. Her 3-year-old daughter, Ami Hento, has fun finding the eggs and feeding the chickens each day.

"It's something our daughter loves, and something our family always wanted to do. My husband grew up on a farm, but I didn't," she said.

The talk gave Lippert a better understanding of some of the details about her chickens that will make it easier to understand and raise them, she said.

Jim Admire, who led the campaign to make backyard chickens legal in some parts of Broomfield, said the talk was a good way to learn more about a subject he has already researched exhaustively. He plans to get his own chickens in the spring.

Those in favor of allowing backyard chickens said raising the animals is a property owner's right. Opponents, however, have said chickens would be noisy or bring down property values because the coops would be an eyesore.

The City Council originally approved an ordinance allowing residents to keep chickens but ultimately did not pass the measure, instead leaving it up to voters to decide.

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